Glacier National Park

Sat Aug 7:
 Mark over at 8:30 ready to go. Fasten down & head to gas station by 9:15 and dump. On road by 10AM. Long drive, stopped at Wheat Montana bakery & deli for sweet rolls for breakfast and hamburger buns. Lunch stop at rest stop. Arrived at St Mary’s Campground in Glacier NP about 8PM. Hamburgers for supper and campfire with s’mores & smoke in our eyes! Shared YCH book & plaque with Mark, watched sunset over flat top rock.
Sun Aug 8:
Overcast AM, filled water, Mark took a walk. Walnut sticky buns & cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Off to St Mary Visitor Center to get park shuttle bus to Logan Pass/Continental Divide. At Logan Pass came out of rest room to see Mark talking with 3 cute girls; didn’t recognize them until Nancy Lanphear came up behind me. She & Bruce & the girls, Rachel, Martha & Ella were staying with friends from Rochester in Columbia Falls. What a surprise! It was cold & rainy and the girls were in shorts but they went hiking anyway – to warm up! Took shuttle back to Rising Sun for lunch, decided against boat tour. Return to St Mary – many construction delays to get RV& warm dry clothes, gas & some groceries. Drove Many Glacier Rd. Took tour of Many Glacier Hotel – a Swiss style chalet with a 95 yr old moose head over the lobby and open fireplace. Drove road 2 times looking for wildlife. Mark & I saw a grizzly bear – a female according to the rangers who had tagged her and were monitoring her to see if she might be pregnant. Mark & Dave also saw a black bear with cubs and some deer. Back to campsite for grilled salmon. Dave & Mark to visitor center for astronomy talk but it had been cancelled. And the Big Dipper was right outside our back door.
Mon. Aug 9:
Cold overnight but lovely sunny morning. Left by 9:30 for East Glacier to get Mark rental car, 38 mi in 2 ½ hrs on windy narrow roads (restricted to vehicles less than 21 ft.!) Back to St Mary VC, left RV and rode with Mark to Logan Pass, with stop at Jackson Glacier overlook. Mark went on back to Bozeman and plane to DC on Tues. We had a long wait for the shuttle bus due to road construction left at 4PM arrive St. Mary at 5PM. Stopped at store for a few items and got chicken noodle casserole ready to put into oven just as ranger came at 7 to tell us to turn off the generator! So cooked casserole over boiling water in saucepan. Dinner outside. – cool evening. Watched “Under the Tuscan Sun” .